But Tuesday morning during an AFC coaches breakfast the NFL Owners’ Meetings, Sparano did not name his No. 2 QB.

He didn’t have to because clearly it’s three-year veteran Tyler Thigpen.

Where this leaves Pat White, the No. 44 pick in 2009, remains to be seen.

“I’m not gonna reveal my hand, but we do have four quarterbacks,” Sparano said.

How long is the question.

The Dolphins expect to get some answers during the coming months.

For now, Sparano is eager to see how much White improved as quarterback during the off-season.

“We need to go into spring and see who does what,” Sparano said. “There’s been a lot of balls thrown from the time the season ended until now. Some of these guys literally took a week, 10 days off before they started back into this process.

“So we have to see how far those players have come. And the spring is when we see it.”

Used sparingly in 2009, White didn’t ignite the Wildcat formation (21 rushes, 81 yards), finished 0 of 5 passing and suffered a brutal concussion in the season-finale against the Steelers.

But Sparano said White made strides.

“I saw growth from season’s start to season’s end with what Pat can handle from the offensive standpoint,” Sparano said. “At the end of the year there were no restrictions. He was able to handle it all mentally that way.

“And I’ve seen growth from a fundamental standpoint out on the practice field . Now, at the end of the day, with the competition out there, whether it’s going to be good enough or not, that really isn’t up to me. It’s gonna be up to those players.”

If if cannot hang with the competition at quarterback, Sparano said the team hasn’t decided where it would move White.

“Not until we do our due diligence and find out the improvements made, one way or the other, and how good those improvements are,” Sparano said.